Nowadays, some people believe that work and travel are the only reason why people learn languages. I disagree with this idea, because some people simply find learning languages entertaining and enjoy the process of it.
On the one hand, it is believed that language skills are important to work in abroad or for travelling. Given that foreign companies demand those skills, people often learn additional language besides their native ones. For example, an Indian person with good IT skills wants to work in abroad; however, they get rejected because of poor language skills. Consequently, they must learn foreign language for better career opportunities.
On the other hand, work and travel are not the only factors why people learn languages. Another contributing factor is people’s interests, because some people love the process of learning language and they set a goal of learning more than 2 languages throughout their lives. From my own experience, although I have never travelled to China, I started to learn Chinese because of a popular cartoon called ‘Kong Fu Panda’. In addition, some people can learn foreign language just to make their activities more enjoyable such as scrolling on social media, or watching movies without subtitles. Consequently, the fact that the only reason for learning a foreign language is work or travel can be incorrect for some people.
In conclusion, although some people think that languages should be learned only for career and travel purposes, I do not agree with this view, as personal desires can also be an important factor why people learn languages.
